Superintendent’s Update

Shared with the Corvallis School Board during the October 10, 2019 meeting

Upcoming Events and Important Dates

• October 17, Bond Expo, 6:30 pm at Linus Pauling Middle School
• October 22, Bond Oversight Committee, 5:30 pm at District Office (Wenaha Trailer)

Welcome Student Representatives

Tonight we welcome our high school student representatives who will join us this school year. Welcome to Somer Sanchez and Taylor Palmer from College Hill and Cella Allen and Indigo Luna from CHS. We also welcome Trevor Adams from CV who is standing in for Trevor Thibert who was not able to join us tonight. Cella and Indigo both had conflicting activities tonight so their substitutes for this evening are Robert Ramirez (CHS senior class co-president) and Suraj Kulkarni (junior class co-president.)

I want to thank our student representatives for their willingness to interact and participate in our school board meetings.  These students lead busy lives, between the rigor of high school academics, extracurricular activities, family and friends, they are keeping a number of plates spinning.  As you know, I believe listening to our student’s voices is vital at all levels of our organization and our student representatives will play an important role in our school board.

Crescent Valley Athletic Field

As you know, the synthetic turf has been completed at Crescent Valley and the remaining work is track resurfacing. I’m happy to share that the final surfacing has been completed and with continued dry weather, the striping will be completed soon. We will be able to host the fall season’s final varsity home games on the new field for girls soccer, boys soccer, and football this month.

Association of Two Way Dual & Language Education (ATDLE)

Last week I was honored to attend the ATDLE Conference with the Linus Pauling Dual Language Staff in Reno, Nevada.  The team presented on their journey to implement a dual language program at the middle school level.  As one of a small number of districts that has a K-12 dual-language program, there was a high level of interest and questions about how Linus Pauling and our district has moved dual-language forward. I am extremely proud of these staff.

Teaching and Learning Continuous Improvement Plan

Administrators from the Teaching and Learning Department are continuing to lay the foundation for the School Improvement Plan report which will be presented later this fall.

Focus on Equity and Inclusion Training

Our equity work began in 2013 with training for leadership staff and we have continued to provide Beyond Diversity training to staff each year. Later this month, we will be providing Beyond Diversity training for district staff and community partners incuding staff from Lebanon, Albany, and Philomath. This is an opportunity for us to support equity work across our region.

The District Equity Leadership Team Advisory (DELTA) will meet later this month and members of the Design Advisory Committees will share their experience as participants in the design process.

We are beginning in-depth professional development later this month for staff to support our LGBTQ+ students and specifically to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students as we continue to implement board policy JBC.

Students Advocating for Equity (SAFE)

Facilitated by Marcianne Rivera Koetje, SAFE has expanded to include Cheldelin Middle School. Students from our high schools and Cheldelin Middle School will be coming together for their first meeting on October 16. This group will be discussing student restroom design and providing input to our bond management team.

Middle School Cross Country

The 11th Annual NW Middle School Cross Country Showdown took place at Avery Park this afternoon with hundreds of middle school athletes competing including a team of 85 from Linus Pauling and 60 from Cheldelin. The event is hosted by the Linus Pauling Middle School Cross Country program. The course winds through the fields and trails of the park giving spectators multiple views of the race as it unfolds. Special thanks to the middle school cross country coaches and especially Gerhard Behrens for his leadership and advocacy for this event.